📘 MIPI C-PHY Overview
C-PHY is a new generation physical layer introduced by MIPI Alliance, using 3-wire encoding instead of D-PHY's differential pair transmission.
Core Features:
- ✅ Three-state signaling: Each wire has 3 voltage levels (+1, 0, -1)
- ✅ Efficient encoding: 16b/7s encoding (16 bits encoded as 7 symbols)
- ✅ Lower power consumption: 30-40% more energy efficient than D-PHY
- ✅ Higher bandwidth: Single Trio can reach 2.5Gbps (approximately 2.28 bits per symbol)
- ✅ Fewer pins: 3-wire transmission, no clock lane needed
Symbol Encoding Table:
| Symbol | Wire A | Wire B | Wire C | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sym0 | + | 0 | - | Symbol 0 |
| Sym1 | - | + | 0 | Symbol 1 |
| Sym2 | 0 | - | + | Symbol 2 |
| Sym3 | + | - | 0 | Symbol 3 |
| Sym4 | 0 | + | - | Symbol 4 |
| Sym5 | - | 0 | + | Symbol 5 |